Two sayings are haunting me today:
"I don't want any of this journey to not be experienced by me."
"Experience is the best teacher, but only a fool will listen to nothing else"
The first one is adapted from something I saw on Facebook a few days before I left the States. The second one was given to me when I was a teenager by a man I respected very much.
I needed to decide today whether to take a bus, or not, for a portion of this Camino. In order to reach Santiago in 40 days, without a bus or taxi, I needed to continue long distances on most days. My body is telling me the best choice will be to shorten my daily walks and plan to skip a few stages at some point. If I do take a short bus ride, I can still walk for 40 days, and reach Santiago, and I'll avoid several 30 km days. Over the past few years we've seen several other pilgrims with medical issues that required suspension of a walk, and I certainly want to avoid that situation.
So, I did not take a bus today, but I did choose a 20 km stop instead of a 27 km stop. And I will almost certainly need to take a bus in a week or so. I have choosen to "not experience" some of this journey in deference to what I've learned from other folks.
Rio Lobos is a town who's name has a nice sound in spanish. The english version is OK too, River Wolves.
The other folks in our group commented on how nice today's walk was. I really enjoyed the early arrival to the albergue. I'll try to get a few pictures uploaded here.
Weather: Low 46F High 66F Sunny and still very breezy.
Distance: 20 km
Route Hints: Once again this year I turned off to Rio Lobos, a pretty simple choice if you don't want to do 27 km the day after 32 km.
Albergue and town: Rio Lobos doesn't seem to have anything special to offer. I am staying at the "Camping Catalinas" place which offers rooms to pilgrims for 15E including breakfast. Quite nice.
There's no shame in taking the bus for a few miles to make your schedule work, especially if you skip some of the miles you previously walked. At least you won't feel obligated to go back in the future to make up those miles you skipped like someone else I know (who, moi?)
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